Western Ballad
by Charlett
Summary: Thane Krios talks to his siha about the romantic stories of humans three hundred years ago, and finds that while cultures change, there are some dramas that remain popular throughout the span of time.


A lot of people have been playing New Vegas recently, and when I realized that "Big Iron", one of my favorite western ballads of all time, was on there, I played it over and over, even when playing Mass Effect 2 again. Mass Effect was fun for me because of the idea of fighting outlaws and being a ranger who fights bad guys in the wild west of the galaxy (Or wild north-east, according to Mass Effect 1 and 2...) Anyway, I know that no one likes song fics and that Shepard shouldn't be running around knowing all about three hundred year old songs, but "Big Iron" is already fifty years old, and it's still fairly well known; I'm going to make the statement that while it's not a "classic", it probably was easy enough to find on the extranet or whatnot. It's easy enough to find on youtube (Just search "Big Iron" and it'll pop up first thing), so I imagine it'd be somewhere on the extranet hundreds of years from now.

I also would like to point out that while this is assuming that Thane and Shepard are in a romance, the story does not revolve around them making out. It's mostly, if not wholly, about Thane. So people who don't really enjoy the pairing can still have fun reading it, and those who do like the pairing... well... Thane's in it!

Regardless, I hope this little something is fun for you guys to read. Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks in advance!

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><p>Thane Krios did not understand what his siha listened to. She told him it was a classic song back from Earth, and that it was nearly three hundred years old. "It was sung during a time when people were missing the time of outlaws living on the fringe of society," Shepard said lightly as she sat on the couch and looked up at her lover, "and the assassins who fought to protect the innocents who were terrorized." She looked up into his deep, dark eyes with a knowing smirk. "Somehow, I found that it fit someone I know."<p>

Thane's smile came from the sparkle in his eyes rather than a curl of lips. He turned to face the player as the song continued:

"No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip…"

"…for the ranger there among them had a big iron on his hip."

"A big iron…?" Thane asked, sitting down next to his siha on the couch and listening to the song as it crooned from her desk.

"On Earth, guns that were made four hundred years ago were made from heavy metals, and powerful pistols were much heavier and cumbersome than the ones we have now. A man who could use one without too much kickback was very strong. It didn't matter about the kickback in the long run though. It was all about the one shot." Shepard smiled at him with her hand holding an imaginary gun. "It was considered honorable to meet your opponent on the field during old stories like this, and the man with the fastest draw and the greatest aim was the man who would survive."

Thane's eyes were completely black, but the way he shifted about showed that he was staring off at something else, and the whisper he let out made her realize he was reliving a memory, whispering what seemed to be a kill that went awry. He blinked, coming out of his trance, and turned back to Shepard. "That is a good way to get one's self killed. Your people found it better to kill themselves on equal footing and risk damage and death, rather than attack from the shadows and reduce the chance of being put out of commission? It seems counterproductive for an assassin to be out of work from a wound."

Shepard shrugged, trying to think back to that time. "Humans, at least, the ones in the stories, tend to prefer the risk; the feeling of adrenaline is so amazing."

Thane nodded in understanding. "I suppose I can understand the romantic aspect for the stories. You must agree that it is a sloppy way to assassinate though." He turned when he heard Shepard's laugh. She nodded and motioned for him to continue. "I suppose that's why the man in the song is a 'ranger'." He stopped when he heard one particular line.

"In this town there lived an outlaw by the name of Texas Red.  
>"Many men had tried to take him and that many men were dead.<br>"He was vicious and a killer though a youth of twenty four…  
>"…and the notches on his pistol numbered one and nineteen more."<p>

Thane's frown was creased more than usual. "A youth of twenty-four… did Texas Red have a family?"

His siha was taken aback, turning towards the desk where the small player sat. "Texas Red… had a family? It doesn't say. That's all the story says about the ranger and the outlaw." She suddenly realized what Thane was thinking of, and she turned to him with a worried look. "I'm sure it wasn't because of his parents that Texas Red became that way. There were many young men on the frontier who wanted a life of killing, to steal from people for their own gain. I don't think…"

"Do you think the ranger is his father…?" Thane interrupted into his hands, which were clasped together in thought. Shepard gulped as Thane continued in amazement, "Was that what the story about? A son who has killed twenty men and became so far gone that his soul has been stained? Would a father go so far as to hunt for his own son…?"

Shepard didn't respond, even as the song continued to the showdown between the ranger and Texas Red.

"There was forty feet between them when they stopped to make their play…  
>"…and the swiftness of the ranger is still talked about today."<p>

Eventually, she looked up at Thane's intense profile. "You did," she said lowly.

Thane's eyes closed slowly as the song wound down and began to finish. "Oh he might have went on living, but he made one fatal slip… when he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip." Shepard gulped and reached out to change the song, worried that she had made a mistake in playing it in her lover's presence, but Thane caught her wrist and the song gradually went quiet.

"I did," he said quietly, opening his eyes and looking deep into his beloved siha's, "…but it was you that ensured that I never had to experience the outcome in this ballad."

Her eyes shone as tears misted in them, the furthest she ever came to crying in his company. She curled her hand into his and entwined her fingers, clasping his hand in hers. The kiss they shared when she pulled him closer ensured that she would be seeing an Arizona showdown that night.


End file.
